Hefty pay rises for senior staff at Hounslow Council have come under fire.
Assistant directors can now earn up to £119,159 a year - a 23% increase in the upper limit of their salary.
The top level of chief executive Mary Harpley's pay band, meanwhile, has swelled from £164,828 to £180,828 - a 10% rise.
The increases, which were approved by councillors in March and took effect from the start of April, follow a 2% rise for chief officers which was agreed in February.
An annual "retention allowance" of up to £5,000 has also been agreed to help the council keep hold of talented workers, though the council said this would only be awarded in "extreme circumstances".
A report by Councillor Ajmer Grewal, cabinet member for equalities and inclusion, claims the rises were needed following difficulties filling "key" assistant director roles.
According to the report, senior pay levels were below those at comparable local authorities before the increase, with Ms Harpley's pay being the second lowest for a chief executive out of 25 "benchmarked" councils.
However, the move has earned the scorn of Daniel Goldsmith, the Green Party's General Election candidate for Brentford & Isleworth.
"While care homes are being closed or underfunded, and business licence fees are sky-rocketing making it impossible for small and medium business to thrive in the borough, and choking the economic life of the high street and our community, this pay increase is unacceptable to Hounslow Green Party," he said.
"Using the argument that Hounslow's highest paid need more simply because they are below the London average is of course exactly the same argument that has been used by the banks and multi-national corporations to justify their ever-ballooning top pay."
The Labour-run council pays all employees at least the London Living Wage of £9.15 an hour, meaning the upper end of Ms Harpley's pay bracket is now 10.5 times that of the council's lowest earners and 6.3 times the median pay packet of £28,555.
